Can America Survive Obamanomics and Remain a Capitalist Society?

The following is a blog post that I drafted and posted on my blog web site in March of 2009 due to the concerns that I had back then about President Obama and his administration just three months after his inauguration into office and I felt the need to share it with you today, just days after his one year anniversary as our President and hours before his first “State of The Union Address” simply as a “gut-check” because in this one year I have discovered that some or most of my concerns outlined back then have in fact been confirmed as being valid due to the frightening direction that I see this President and his Administration taking our country, with the help of the Main Stream Media, as evidenced and/or substantiated by the results of the recent Senate election in Massachusetts, two digit unemployment figures, ongoing home foreclosures, homeland and national security issues and numerous other concerns that I have shared with you on this blog web site –You Decide:

Question:Can America survive Obamanomics and remain a capitalist society (free market) or will it be covertly converted into a global socialist society in the name of fixing everything that ails us?

Let’s refresh our memory on what we mean by a “capitalist” versus a “socialist” society:

Laissez-faire (French, “leave to do (by itself)”), signifies minimizing or eliminating state interference in economic affairs and the competitive process, allowing the free play of supply and demand. Laissez-faire capitalism has never existed in practice.

Because all large economies today have a mixture of private and public ownership and control, some feel that the term “mixed economies” more precisely describes most contemporary economies.

In the “capitalist mixed economy”, the state intervenes in market activity and provides many services.

The central axiom of Capitalism is that the best allocation of resources is achieved through consumers having free choice, and producers responding accordingly to meet collective consumer demand. This contrasts with planned economies in which the state directs what shall be produced. A consequence is the belief that privatization of previously state-provided services will tend to achieve a more efficient delivery thereof. Further implications are usually in favor of free trade, and abolition of subsidies.

Although individuals and groups must act rationally in any society for their own good, the consequences of both rational and irrational actions are said to be more readily apparent in a capitalist society.

Capitalism has been dominant in the Western world since the end of feudalism. From Britain, it gradually spread throughout Europe, across political and cultural frontiers. In the 19th and 20th centuries, capitalism provided the main, but not exclusive, means of industrialization throughout much of the world.”

The first socialists were termed utopian socialists by later socialist thinkers, and include Robert Owen, who tried to found socialist factories and other structures within a capitalist society and Henri de Saint Simon, the first individual to coin to term “socialism” and the originator of technocracy and industrial planning. The first socialists predicted a world improved by harnessing technology and combining it with better social organization, and many contemporary socialists share this belief.

Early socialist thinkers tended to favor more authentic meritocracy, while many modern socialists have a more egalitarian approach. There is disagreement over the extent that National Socialism is socialist; although Adolf Hitler’s party program included socialist elements, the Nazis did not nationalize industry, but instead created a highly regulated economy with state-led economic planning.

Socialists mainly share the belief that capitalism unfairly concentrates power and wealth among a small segment of society that controls capital, creates an unequal society, and does not provide equal opportunities for everyone in society. Therefore socialists advocate the creation of a society in which wealth and power are distributed more evenly based on the amount of work expended in production, although there is considerable disagreement among socialists over how, and to what extent this could be achieved.

Socialism is not a concrete philosophy of fixed doctrine and program; its branches advocate a degree of social interventionism and economic rationalization, sometimes opposing each other. Another dividing feature of the socialist movement is the split between reformists and the revolutionaries on how a socialist economy should be established.

Some socialists advocate complete nationalization of the means of production, distribution, and exchange; others advocate state control of capital within the framework of a market economy.

Others, including Yugoslavian, Hungarian, Polish and Chinese Communists in the 1970s and 1980s, instituted various forms of market socialism, combining co-operative and state ownership models with the free market exchange and free price system (but not prices for the means of production).

Social democrats propose selective nationalization of key national industries in mixed economies and tax-funded welfare programs and the regulation of markets.

Note: These eye-opening articles, blog posts, books, videos and/or audios give us an alarming picture of where we seem to be headed in America today under this President and his Administration –You Decide:

“During the Bush years, the national outlays rose from $1.9 trillion in 2001 to $3.0 trillion in 2008, and the country went from enjoying a surplus of $128 million in 2001 to suffering a deficit of $459 million in 2008. We called Bush irresponsible. Perhaps the fiscal 2009 deficit of $1.75 billion should be viewed as an anomaly since it’s the direct result of the $700 billion Bush TARP plan and the $800 billion Obama Stimulus Plan, both implemented to ameliorate the effects of the financial crisis and recession. But how do we justify an average deficit of $700 billion annually from 2010 to 2019, which according to the Obama budget, will be boom times? GDP will be likely rise to an eye-popping $23 trillion in 2019… Continue reading

The United States spends more, per capita on healthcare than any other country in the world. We spent $7,421 per capita as compared to about $3,500 in countries with universal national healthcare systems such as France and Germany. We don’t receive better care in the US than the French or Germans; we just pay a lot more for it. In fact, according to the latest data, we spent $2.2 trillion in 2007 on healthcare, or 16.2% of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Even more worrisome is that expenditures continue to rise at an alarming rate of 6% annually. Here’s a radical idea why don’t we fix the current system before the administration throws another $634 billion federal dollars into this sinkhole. We appear to be primarily focused on… Continue reading

The only thing missing from current Health Care Reform proposals is a plan to actually provide, health care. Insurance schemes both public and private, electronic medical records and legal reforms may make health care more affordable and administratively efficient but they don’t answer the real question; will Americans actually receive better health care, or in many cases any health care at all? What should be obvious, seems lost in the political rhetoric, we don’t have the physicians, nurses and other health care professionals to actually provide quality universal health care despite the fact that we spend more, per capita on health care than any other country in the world. In the U.S. we spend approximately $6,000 per capita as compared to about $3,500 countries with universal national health care…Continue reading

In an ironic twist of fate, it may be the fiscally responsible communist Chinese who save capitalist America from its budgetary excesses. They may well have to teach the wayward youngster a lesson in fiscal responsibility by refusing to fund continuing trillion-dollar deficits. Tough love from the Chinese may be the only prescription that rescues America from impending financial doom. The new administration is behaving like a kid in a candy store and it will take a bitter pill from the Chinese to bring them to their senses. Federal outlays will soar in fiscal 2009 to $4 trillion, or 27.4% of our $14 trillion GDP, up from $3 trillion or 21% of GDP in 2008, and 20% in 2007. If we take the administration’s rosy recovery scenario at face… Continue reading

After reading that one percent of the households in New York City, roughly 40,000 people, pay 50% of the income taxes in this city of more than 8 million inhabitants, it made be begin to wonder where we were headed as a nation. This astonishing figure brings home the practical consequences of relying on taxes from a small group of high-earners to fund city, state and national budgets. In the case of New York City, the Mayor can only hope that this small group does not become weary of their burden and move to Connecticut or West Palm Beach. If even only a small percentage does, the financial impact on New York in a recession would be devastating. If that problem isn’t enough New York City and State will…Continue reading

The 50 million American families who work hard and pay their mortgage promptly each month may view this current $275 billion mortgage-refinancing scheme as inherently unfair. Your chances of winning this lottery are greatly enhanced, if you made no down payment, you bought more houses than you could afford and defaulted on your payments. If you foolishly worked hard and paid all your bills on time your chance of winning is practically zero. In 2008 there were approximately 2.5 million foreclosures out of the 55 million mortgages outstanding, a rate of about 4.5% or 25% of the 10 millions homes that are “underwater” – i.e. the house is worth less than the outstanding mortgage. It is reasonable to assume that the ability to make monthly payments is the… Continue reading

Ideology to the left of us, ideology to the right of us—boldly they rode into the jaws of the unknown, into the mouth of financial hell—rode the five hundred and thirty five. Theirs is not to reason why; theirs is but vote and whine… For the political class who see the current recession as harbinger of depression, embracing an incomprehensible stimulus plan provides the irrational exuberance of hope. Better to have relied on reason than a potpourri of repackaged old and tired ideas. To argue with either side is a waste of time, as each will abandon reason at the first challenge. As John Locke succinctly put it: “Every sect, as far as reason will help them, gladly use it; when it fails them, they cry out it… Continue reading

As the world’s most inventive country we have the unique opportunity to patent our way out of the current recession and thrive in the 21st century global economy. What should we export to create high paying permanent jobs and redress our balance of payments? Ideas. It’s what we do better than any other country. One country, the United States, accounts for more than one-third of international patent applications. It’s time to leverage what we do best, innovate, and create the jobs we need for today, tomorrow, and decades to come. In hard economic times we should be looking ever more closely at our export markets and ask ourselves the basic question: What innovative products can we sell to the nearly 500 million inhabitants of the European Union, the… Continue reading

Heat from the Earth, or geothermal – Geo (Earth) + thermal (heat) – energy can be readily accessed by drilling water or steam wells in a process similar to drilling for oil. Domestic geothermal energy is an enormous, and underused heat and power resource that emits little or no greenhouse gases. Mile-or-more-deep wells can be drilled into underground reservoirs to tap steam and very hot water that can be brought to the surface for use in a variety of applications. In the US most geothermal reservoirs are located in the western states, Alaska, and Hawaii. About 8,000 megawatts of electricity are currently produced globally including about 3,000 megawatts of capacity in the United States. The US Department of Energy believes that an additional 15,000 megawatts of geothermal electricity… Continue reading

Coal, which is by far the dirtiest fossil fuel, generates half of the electricity in the United States and 82% of the carbon dioxide emissions created by power production. Since it is abundant and cheap, it is likely to continue to play a major role in electricity generation for the foreseeable future. In the rhetoric of its champions, The United States is the Saudi Arabia of coal. Despite the introduction of wind, solar and other clean technologies, the Department of Energy in its Annual Energy Outlook 2008 projects a small, 0.03% annual increase, in coal utilization through 2015. Surprisingly, maybe shockingly, they expect that growth rate to accelerate to 1% from 2015 to 2030 unless there are restrictions on carbon dioxide emissions or new clean technology… Continue reading

Hydroelectricity is the most widely used form of clean renewable energy in the world, generating over 19% of the world’s electricity. It requires no fuel and produces no direct emissions or by-products. The United Nations estimates that the technically exploitable potential for hydropower is 15 trillion kilowatt-hours per year, amounting to half of the total projected global electricity needed in 2030. In the United States, hydropower has fallen to 10% of the electricity supply mix down from14%, 20 years ago. In terms of electricity production, hydropower accounts for only 7% of America’s current power needs.

There are two basic types of solar electricity plants: Solar thermal, also called Concentrating Solar Power (CSP), and Photovoltaic. CSP generates high-temperature heat through the use of various mirror configurations, which is then used to make electricity utilizing traditional heat-conversion technology. Photovoltaic solar power in contrast, converts sunlight directly into electricity. Concentrating Solar Power Solar thermal electricity is an attractive renewable energy option in the southwestern United States and other Sunbelt regions. Concentrating Solar Power (CPS) systems can be sized at a capacity for village power (10 kilowatts), or a number of smaller systems can be connected to a larger grid. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, solar thermal electric systems operating in the U.S. today using parabolic trough design meet the needs of over 350,000… Continue reading

Wind is actually a form of solar energy. The uneven heating of the atmosphere by the sun combined with the irregularities of the earth’s surface and the rotation of the planet creates wind. The terrain, bodies of water and vegetation modify wind flow patterns, making a small percentage of the earth surface suitable for wind power development. In spite of the fact that only 6% of the contiguous United States land mass can be considered “good wind areas” the Department of Energy estimates that this area could conceivably produce 150% of our current electricity needs. Wind is also the only low-priced renewable energy technology; the projected cost is between $.04 and $.06 per kilowatt-hour making it competitive with natural gas and coal-fired power plants. Physicists tell us that energy can neither…. Continue reading

Today, we can only sustain a small proportion of earth’s population at a sophisticated economic level without dramatically increasing carbon dioxide production. Energy use is the direct correlate of a vibrant economy – in the United States for example, we consume 24% of the world’s oil and are responsible for approximately 28% of global GDP. This is no accident. The power that propelled hundreds of millions of people in Europe, Japan and North America to economic prosperity must be shared with the billions in the emerging world. Understandably, these large emerging nations are unwilling to wait for the ultimate clean energy innovation to power the world of the future. They want a seat at the prosperity table and they want it now. It would be the height of arrogance for….Continue reading

Coal-fired plants produce approximately 50% of the electricity in the United States and 82% of power-generated carbon dioxide emissions. If electric vehicles are charged exclusively by coal-fired electricity they produce more greenhouse gases than a traditional gasoline-powered combustion engine car. In the future, electricity must be generated cleanly if we expect automotive electric-drive technologies to reduce our carbon dioxide burden. Clean energy alternatives like Wind and solar power will probably make a significant contribution to clean energy generation, but realistically, we cannot count on these two sources for more than 20-30% of our electricity needs in the next 20 years. Even reaching these modest goals will require a major investment in energy infrastructure and fundamental advances in technology. In light of these realities, it… Continue reading

The key to producing less carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels is to use the fuel with the lowest carbon to hydrogen ratio. Coal is the least desirable because there are roughly 2 carbons for each hydrogen; oil is cleaner because it has the inverse ratio of approximately one carbon for 2 hydrogen molecules; and best of all is methane (CH4), with 4 hydrogen molecules for each carbon molecule. Although natural gas is primarily methane, it does contain, some longer chain hydrocarbons such as ethane, propane, butane, pentane etc. that make it slightly less desirable than pure methane. Thus, the reduction in carbon dioxide emissions when natural gas is substituted for gasoline in an automobile is about 25-30%. Fossil Fuel Emission Levels – Pounds per Billion… Continue reading

Malthus believed we would be unable to feed ourselves as our numbers expanded. He postulated that short-term gains in living standards would inevitably be undermined as population growth outstripped food production. Malthus of course, has been proven wrong as technology permitted us to grow more food from existing farmland. Yet, despite all we have accomplished in improving our agricultural efficiency and reducing population growth, billions are still malnourished. Given this reality, is the mass production of ethanol from corn a sound policy? Are we so blinded by evangelical climate soothsayers that we believe we can burn a significant portion of our basic food stock, corn, to power our cars and not increase global hunger? If ethanol is so important to our future why not import sugar cane from the poor…Continue reading

In the popular press one often reads the mantra – We have reached “peak oil” – implying that we have reached the limits of our geological reserves. That is probably not the case, what we have reached however, is geopolitical “peak oil” because inefficient national companies have pushed out private companies with the know-how to exploit existing reserves. In the 70’s Western Oil companies controlled well over 50% of world oil production. Today, “BIG OIL”, the combination of Exxon, BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Total and Italy’s Eni produce just 13% and that will probably decline over the next two decades. Today’s ten largest holders of petroleum reserves are state-owned companies, like Russia’s Gaspron, Iran’s national oil company, Saudi Aramco and Petroleos de Venezuela. (With the possible….Continue reading

Transportation, specifically the automobile, will be the pivotal sector driving increased demand for oil and its substitutes over the next two decades. The developing world notably China and India, aspire to the freedom the automobile brings. Things we take for granted, such as the ability to escape the crowded city whenever we wish, to live in a green suburb and commute to work or just live a greater distance from our employment will now be come increasingly available to people in the developing world. Per capita car ownership in China will increase to 40 cars per 1,000 citizens by 2010 from its current 24 and that is only the beginning of a steep secular trend. By contrast the United States has 765 vehicles per 1,000 and most Western European countries….Continue reading”

Note: This thought provoking article shares with us ten suggestive rules that our President could put into practice to make our country better instead of doing what he is doing, which will ultimately convert our country into a socialist society-You Decide:

“1. Cap tax-deductible CEO remuneration at a maximum of 30 times the salary of that public company’s lowest paid worker. There above, salaries will not be tax deductible as an operating expense for an employer. In addition, no bonuses (in cash or shares) for top management of a public company will be tax deductible if the company suffered losses by the end of the relevant year.

2. Limit the amount of airtime (on both public television and radio) eligible for advertiser tax deductions, to about 90 percent of the current level. Any advertising time above this level will not be tax deductible, reducing the cost-effectiveness of additional advertisements and helping to stem our country’s advertising epidemic.

By way of both suggestions 1 and 2, companies can allocate resources exactly as they wish. However, the government will cease to incentives obviously counterproductive decisions.

3. Tax all raw materials, particularly oil and other energy products, according to a formula that factors in all of their indirect costs, including recycling, pollution and security impacts. The tax on oil, for example, will take into account global warming, other pollution, the use of the American military to provide a protective shield in the Middle East, and so on. Use the revenues from these taxes to tackle the country’s most urgent needs: reducing alternative energy costs, improving and extending incentive-based education, and reducing our national deficit.

4. Re-define the tax code: tax all workers at a flat 8 percent, bumping the rate to 18 percent and 28 percent for earnings over $80,000 and over $250,000, respectively (including capital gains). Create a standardized national sales tax of 8.8%. Abolish the inheritance tax, loopholes and all. This simplified tax code will save taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars by removing unnecessary accounting, audit, and tax collection fees, as well as reducing the costs of maintaining a large tax bureaucracy. In addition, it will ensure that all Americans, irrespective of income, contribute to the country and have a stake in its well-being.

5. Eliminate pork-and this is not a halal or kosher issue. Ban all unrelated and irrelevant earmarks in any budget vote. Establish Congressional sub-committees to vote on minor expenditures individually, ensuring that every line item is voted on and not advanced circumstantially by inclusion in larger, otherwise unrelated bills.

6. Implement a ‘Bare Bones’ universal healthcare program, fully covering only workers’ compensation and emergency healthcare, and including sensible co-pays for all other services. Allow private insurance plans to cover these additional and premium services as well. This “Bare Bones’ program (to be named in a more euphemistic manner) must be freely transferable from job to job and from state to state.

7. Require all penitentiaries to have two “tracks” for inmates: ‘bones only’ and ‘full service.’ All inmates are guaranteed only the minimum, ‘bones only’ services, rights, and opportunities-a basic, “one star” jail experience.

If inmates want better food, recreation, education and facilities they must work in some manner to earn those rights and help re-pay the penal system for these additional luxuries. No better way exists for rehabilitation than this kind of incentive-based, pay-as-you-go system. As an added bonus, local manufacturers will be allowed to set up cost-effective, low-wage satellite factories in (or attached to) low security prisons.

8. Implement tort reform-finally. Allow judges and juries to charge a plaintiff (i.e., the initiator of a legal action) with all costs when they deem the action to be frivolous or based on avarice. Include a ‘three strikes’ approach to lawyers’ pursuit of frivolous lawsuits, after which one’s license to practice law is put on ice for a significant period.

9. Require naturalized citizens to pledge an unequivocal, demonstrable and written commitment to integrate into our broad society, accept the primacy of our laws and our Bill of Rights and Constitution, and agree to learn a minimum functioning quotient of the English language. Similarly, define more pragmatically the invitation to citizenship for individuals born in the USA to two non-citizen parents, and as well as those with familial relationships, to reduce abuse.

10. Include in the definition of “tolerance” the preventing of a vociferous minority from imposing its will on the majority; do not define our universal religion as political correctness and appeasing multiculturalism. Respect those “antediluvian” citizens who prefer to remain patriotic, religious, strong, independent, conservative, heterosexual and/or free.

Note: This article shares with us four integrity tests for President Obama, which I believe hit the nail on the head, as evidenced by his background and actions to this date-You Decide:

Four Integrity Tests for President Obama–Posted on Global Politician-By Joel S. Hirschhorn-On March 10, 2009:

“A great smile does not make a truth teller. A talker of change does not define a reformer. Make no mistake, for the good of the nation I want President Obama to succeed in getting us out of the scandalous economic meltdown we are immersed in. But I do not like many of his actions, policies and strategies for accomplishing this, nor does the stock market?

I always had my doubts that he was a true agent of change and reformer when it came to the structure of the political and government system. He took an awful lot of money from the very rich and powerful in his campaign. Sure, with his superb speaking skills he has the capacity to win public approval, but most Americans are not deep, critical thinkers, nor do most have the best detailed information. What if he is just another untrustworthy politician? What if he does not keep his promises? With these questions in mind, I have examined four areas where I find President Obama’s behavior disappointing.

Most distressing is that he put people in power that failed to prevent the economic disaster, notably the Treasury Secretary. As someone with significant experience in government, I was appalled that President Obama has selected so many experienced people for his cabinet and high-level White House positions who previously had powerful positions in government or the financial sector but failed to prevent the economic meltdown that is still worsening. Or even sound loud alarms about what was profoundly wrong with economic system.

Why not look hard for people that had been criticizing various aspects of the mortgage and financial areas? People from the academic world, watchdog groups and public interest organizations that might have worked previously in government could bring more creativity to the problems. For someone who made a big campaign deal of being against politics as usual, Obama has shown precious little evidence that he wants true outsiders to steer his administration.

His chief of staff Rahm Emanuel is the epitome of a protector of the status quo political system. Rather than selecting many big name Democrats and a few Republicans, why not seek out independents, whistle blowers and reformers to fix the economic meltdown?

Accepting a huge spending bill loaded with pork earmarks it starkly contradictory to what Obama promised during the campaign. During the campaign this is what candidate Obama said: “We need earmark reform. And when I’m president, I will go line by line to make sure we’re not spending money unwisely.” He has talked repeatedly about fiscal responsibility and real change in politics. Talk is cheap. This spending bill is not. Not with over 9,000 earmarks totaling some $12 billion.

It is sheer nonsense for him and his supporters to say shamelessly that the spending bill is something left over from the Bush administration. Well, so is the Iraq war, but Obama certainly was ready to make changes with it.

Why not have the integrity and courage to veto this spending bill and send it back to Congress with the mandate to cut out the pork? Why should we believe promises to wait until he cuts earmarks from future spending bills when clearly Congress, both Democrats and Republicans, are not willing to give up earmarks. And why won’t they? Simple, they create earmarks as part of the legal corruption that allows campaign contributors to get the earmarks they want.

Consider this example. Representative Anthony Weiner, Democrat, New York, received more than $160,000 in campaign contributions from for the Sephardic Addiction and Family Education (SAFE) Foundation in Brooklyn , New York , which has an earmark from him for $238,000.

He was also sole sponsor on a $300,000 earmark for Brooklyn ‘s Ohel Children’s Home and Family Services, whose board members and employees have also given him money; its director has personally given $6,240. And the bill includes 14 earmarks requested by lawmakers for projects sought by PMA Group, a lobbying company used by all sorts of entities to get earmarks, which is at the center of a federal corruption investigation….”

Joel S. Hirschhorn observed our corrupt federal government firsthand as a senior official with the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment and the National Governors Association. You may reach him through

Another Blow to Obama’s Agenda: New SEC Guidance on Climate Change Disclosure Will Force CEOs Who Lobby for Cap-and-Trade to Expose the Business Risk of Cap-and-Trade Legislation to Shareholders–Posted On National Center For Public Policy Research-On January 29, 2010:

A banks is a financial institution that accepts deposits and channels those deposits into lending activities. Banks primarily provide financial services to customers while enriching investors. Government restrictions on financial activities by banks vary over time and location. Bank are important players in financial markets and offer services such as investment funds and loans. In some countries such as Germany, banks have historically owned major stakes in industrial corporations while in other countries such as the United States banks are prohibited from owning non-financial companies. In Japan, banks are usually the nexus of a cross-share holding entity known as the keiretsu. In France, bancassurance is prevalent, as most banks offer insurance services (and now real estate services) to their clients.

The level of government regulation of the banking industry varies widely, with countries such as Iceland, having relatively light regulation of the banking sector, and countries such as China having a wide variety of regulations but no systematic process that can be followed typical of a communist system.[url=http://projectcontrol.v3host.nl]CLICK HERE[/url]